quote:
How many times have we seen this .. mid-major head coach's team makes one 2 or 3-game Cinderella NCAA tourney run .. gets hired by a major, then falls flat on their faces against stiffer competition night in and night out and are out of a job just a few years later .. Some never resurface either ..

A lot; but what often happens is that usually these mid major coaches are leaving for other mid majors like Boston College who happen to be in major conferences, and that schedule will overwhelm them as you said. Cornell doesn't do traditional recruiting, so that coach was an extra risk. A lot of times the best coach on the mid major was an assistant, who takes over and makes the mid major better after the coach leaves. Not true in Cornell's case, but true with Butler, Gonzaga, et al.

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Posted by hoopsgalore

Chicago, IL

Member since Nov 2013

8659 posts

Posted on 2/8/14 at 1:00 pm to Overbrook

Sorry to take this off-topic, but sort of has to do with Cornell's former coach, Steve Donahue.

Although his final three years didn't go so well, canning Al Skinner was a mistake for Boston College.

That guy found some incredibly productive players that were not the most highly touted players in high school -- Jared Dudley, Sean Williams, Tyrese Rice, Craig Smith, Troy Bell, Reggie Jackson, Rakim Sanders, etc, etc.

After BC fired Skinner, they brought in Cornell's coach, Steve Donahue. Dude had a very good final three years as Cornell's coach and won a few tournament games in that span. However, his teams were very average before that.

I think BC took a large step back after the Donahue hiring because Tyrese Rice graduated (one of the most underrated players of the decade before this) and Rakim Sanders and Brady Heslip (yes, the Baylor guy) both left the program as well. They haven't been the same since. Donahue will be fired soon.

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